Sen. Olympia Snowe tells about chatting with a Maine teenager about Net Neutrality, controversial legislation to prevent Internet providers from charging premiums for faster connectivity to the World Wide Web.

Snowe is the lone GOP voice supporting Net Neutrality in the Senate. The issue is uncomplicated, she said, but not easy to explain, and admitted it took her days of study before understanding it.

The teenager, however, grasped it in seconds.

“It’s privatizing the Internet,” he told Snowe. That’s right, the senator replied.

Net Neutrality would keep the Internet from splitting into two lanes: fast and slow. Internet providers – such as Verizon and Time Warner – would then charge Web sites for higher connectivity speeds. The more they pay, the faster their content, or product, would reach the surfing public.

Sound confusing? Let Jon Bartholomew, of Common Cause Maine, explain it: “Entrepreneurs need Net Neutrality to compete equally,” said Bartholomew.

Snowe called Net Neutrality a populist issue, and added the Internet should be compatible with democratic principles. She even coined a new word to describe the opposite online landscape: “Cableization.”

Quashing Net Neutrality, she said, “could fundamentally change the Internet.” “People are going to be outraged.”

Yet Snowe’s alone among Republicans in supporting it. Her Net Neutrality legislation, with Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., was killed by an 11-11 vote of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in June, after verbiage was attached to the Senate’s telecommunications bill.

Perhaps some issues are better entrusted with teenagers than senators.

The Internet is America’s economic engine. As bedrocks such as Ford Motor Co. post billion-dollar losses, ideas concocted in California garages – hello, YouTube – sell for billions.

Broadband is a nonpareil household utility, too, as 42 percent of American adults have high-speed Internet at home, according to Pew Research. And Net Neutrality is significant for Maine, as Bartholomew says, “simply because it’s a strong economic issue.”

State and federal officials have pushed rural broadband penetration, in part to spur entrepreneurship. Broadband is the equalizer, as long as Internet providers can’t ransom connectivity speeds to the highest bidder.

Common Cause Maine and other organizations are rallying behind Net Neutrality. A Web site, www.maineinternetfreedom.com, is the movement’s digital hub. A Net Neutrality petition signed by 4,700 Mainers was delivered to Sen. Susan Collins in August.

Just a few Senate minds need swaying, Snowe admits, as the telecom bill moves forward. She pledges to continue fighting for Net Neutrality with our full support, since on Net Neutrality, we’re anything but neutral.

Sorry, senators. We’re with the teens on this one.